The Diocese of Ischia is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Campania, southern Italy. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Naples. The diocese comprises the entire island of Ischia, which contains seven communes divided into two circumscriptions. In 1743, the population was about 4,000. The city of Ischia constituted one single parish, with two religious houses of men and one of women. In 2018, the population of the town of Ischia was 20,118.
History
The earliest known Bishop of Ischia, Pietro, was present at the Third Lateran Council of Pope Alexander III in 1079. In July 1228, a major earthquake struck the island of Ischia. Upwards of 700 persons were killed. In imitation of the Sicilians and their revolt against Charles I of Naples, Ischia revolted, but was reconquered by Charles' son, Charles II, in 1299, and four hundred of his troops were set loose to sack and burn the properties. The cathedral, dedicated to the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven, is located in the Castello Aragonese, at the eastern tip of the island of Ischia. It is inaccessible except by a steep climb on foot. In 1848, the cathedral was served and administered by a Chapter, composed of three dignities and sixteen Canons. All the Canons were appointed by the cathedral's patron, the King of the Two Sicilies. Bishop Luca Trapani presided over a diocesan synod, held in the cathedral from 31 May to 2 June 1716. The diocesan seminary was begun by Bishop Nicola Schiaffinati, O.E.S.A., but was not completed until the reign of his successor, Bishop Felice Amato. In order to finance the operation of the seminary, two parishes were suppressed, Santa Barbara in the Castello Aragonese, and San Domenico in Campagnano. On 23 July 1762, a major earthquake struck Ischia, without loss of life, but with the destruction of the parish church at Casamicciola. On 18 March 1796, another earthquake struck the same area, and seven people died. The Concordat of 1818 between the Holy See and the Kingdom of the two Sicilies provided for the consolidation of the diocesan structure of the kingdom by the elimination of some fifty dioceses. Ischia, after nineteen years without a bishop, was specified as one of those dioceses, and it was to be united to the diocese of Pozzuoli. Strong representations made by a delegation of Ischiani to the King, however, brought the diocese a reprieve.
